End-of-Year Implementation -- Tips for Improving Manager Meetings

Manager department meetings are like beer at a barbecue. You could implement pay and performance management communications without manager meetings with employees, but why would you bother?

The act of getting everyone together to talk about pay and performance illustrates that the team is all in it together. The act of talking about rewards together makes it clear that the manager (and the company who the manager represents) wants to connect with the team. Talk about transparency -- if a topic is discussed with the whole group, you're more than half way to transparency. The only way to trip up would be to duck employee questions. And by running effective meetings -- I mean really effective, where questions get asked and answered -- managers can build employee loyalty that will last over time, especially among employees who are under 30.

Instead of getting academic, why not just look at it in terms of human nature? This quote will help you stare the power of managers' meetings right in the eye.

"Anyone who has done the math will tell you that word of mouth is the most efficient way to gain trust, spread the word and grow.

And yet...

It only takes a moment to destroy. Only a few sentences, a heartless broken promise, a lack of empathy, and it's gone...It turns out that while people like to have their problems fixed, what they most want is to be seen and to be cared about."

So don't think that meetings are like transactions -- if you get the information right, the transaction is successful. Manager meetings offer much, much more, so prepare to make the most of them this year.

• Accept that you are not the spokesperson for compensation, managers are, even if HR makes the salary decisions for job candidates. Managers can gain crucial employee trust for themselves, the company and HR, or not. It's up to you to treat and prepare managers well. It's similar to the beer at the barbecue example above. You can just send the email notifications of what to do and when, but if that's all the effort you're making, why bother?
• Recognize that managers don't automatically agree with you. They are as overtired and overburdened as you are, or more. Even if you are preparing managers for a compensation and performance management cycle that happens each year, build and reinforce your connections with them. You know how to do this because you've done it before. And this year, put time in the schedule to interact with managers before end-of-year activities start.
• Give them more tools and fewer emails. The best tools for managers are talking points and FAQs. This year, make sure they begin with a short briefing section of a paragraph or two about why the meeting is important and what kind of tone the manager should set. How often do people speed into meetings (even if they shouldn't)? This short section will help a manager settle into the job, no matter what the meeting situation is.
• Instead of expecting managers to parrot the talking points, show them questions to ask that will engage employees in the points. As you know, a meeting is much more effective when the team is able to act together to come to a conclusion.
• To reduce the number of emails, don't just put a placeholder on your project schedule indicating the date to send an email, add three bullet points or so on what the email will cover. Then step back. Odds are you'll notice that when you inventory all of the emails you're planning, you'll notice that you're being repetitive and that fewer "directions" are needed.
• Use the subject line in your emails as a call to action. Which email would you open? "Human Resource Update"? "Performance Management Deadline"? Or . . . "4 Things to Do If Employee Self Assessments Are Late"?

You know you're good, but are you a great communicator? This is Episode 3 in a series on improving employee loyalty through better, uncomplicated end-of-year compensation and performance management communications
Episode 1 = Expect More (From Yourself) This Year
Episode 2 = Value End-of-Year Implementation--How to Make It Important, Worthwhile and Useful to help you get started

Margaret O'Hanlon, CCP brings deep expertise to discussions on employee pay, performance management, career development and communications at the Café. Her firm, re:Think Consulting, provides market pay information and designs base salary structures, incentive plans, career paths and their implementation plans. Earlier, she was a Principal at Willis Towers Watson. Margaret is a Board member of the Bay Area Compensation Association (BACA). She coauthored the popular eBook, Everything You Do (in Compensation) Is Communications, a toolkit that all practitioners can find at https://gumroad.com/l/everythingiscommunication.

Comments

[Jonathan Merage]

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